Bigwig chip maker Intel has disclosed in a recent blog post that it has hired former ARM executive Tom Lantzsch as the Senior Vice President and General Manager of its IoT Group.

According to the announcement, Lantzsch will take charge as Intel IoT Group's SVP and GM in January 2017.

Intel's hiring of Lantzsch - who most recently was the Executive Vice President of Strategy at Intel's rival ARM - is an indication of the fact that the company has persistent efforts underway to fortify its Internet of Things (IoT) business.

After having recently announced its "one-day shopping event" this Black Friday, tech giant Apple - which opted out of Black Friday deal in 2015 - is offering up to $150 worth of free Apple gift cards to customers on the purchase of selected Apple products at full price.

In accordance with its announcement of the Black Friday event, Apple is also offering online shoppers the advantage of free delivery on products which are ordered on Black Friday. The company has previously said that the best way to shop the Black Friday event is via the Apple Store app.

According to a 9to5Mac report, tech giant Apple can pull data off the non-removable, non-upgradable, soldered-on SSD of the MacBook Pro with the help of a tool which it can use in case of an emergency.

The report comes against the backdrop of an iFixit teardown which showed that MacBook Pro's SSD - as well as its CPU and RAM - is soldered onto the logic board of the laptop. Furthermore, the battery of the laptop is also affixed. The iFixit teardown also revealed that the repair of the 2016 MacBook Pro is more difficult than that of its predecessor.

On Wednesday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposed voluntary guidelines to smartphone manufacturers, asking them to help prevent distracted driving by blocking certain apps and functions for drivers.

In its guidance, the NHTSA has urged smartphone makers Apple, Samsung and others to consider the addition of a "driver mode" to their devices, for blocking drivers' access to certain apps and functions.

Online journal TechCrunch has disclosed in a recent report that chip maker Intel will likely announce another round of job cuts in the near future. The projected layoff move by Intel will mark the company's third round of layoff in the last 18 months.

According to the TechCrunch report, citing "sources close to Intel", the impending round of layoffs to be announced by Intel is apparently a result of the company's lackluster performance in its embryonic wearables business.

According to a Re/code report, unidentified sources familiar with the proceedings at Apple have confirmed that the company is throttling the download speeds on iPhone 7 versions equipped with the Qualcomm modem chip.

The report comes against an early Friday disclosure by Bloomberg that the performance of Qualcomm LTE chips in Verizon/Sprint versions of iPhone 7 is being intentionally throttled by Apple to ensure that their performance matches with that of the slower Intel modems used in the AT&T/T-Mobile versions of iPhone 7.